52nd Annual Report 2010-2011 - Commonwealth Scholarship ...

ForewordWe have the honour to submit, pursuant to Schedule 2, Section 13, Clause (5) 2 of the International Development Act 2002,the following report of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the United Kingdom for the year ending 30September 2011.April 2011 saw the start of a new phase in the CSC’s history. A new agreement with our principal funding body – theDepartment for International Development (DFID) – provides welcome increased resources for our activities over the nextfour years. Together with the decisions of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the ScottishGovernment to maintain their funding, this has allowed us to plan an ambitious programme of future activity. We aregrateful for the renewed confidence of all three departments, and conscious of the obligation to repay this with clearresults. A key element of our new strategy is thus the development of our evaluation and monitoring systems, so that wecan contribute to global understanding about the value that scholarships and fellowships contribute to internationaldevelopment. This is all the more important at a time of constraint in public expenditure generally.How will we know whether these investments have been successful? Most governments recognise the value ofscholarships – indeed many provide more resources than the UK – yet scholarship programmes are not easy to evaluate.While the costs are confined to a period of up to three years, the benefits accrue over a lifetime. However, the CSC isdetermined to be at the cutting edge of developing such techniques. We start from a strong base. Data already exists toshow that the vast majority of our Commonwealth Scholars and Fellows perform well on their courses, return home towork in occupations relevant to development, and maintain their strong relationships with the UK. A spectacular numberof individual examples can be produced to demonstrate real impact. Now we aim to quantify that effect further.In the meantime, one way of increasing effectiveness is to ensure that the maximum proportion of our income is devotedto actual scholarships and fellowships, rather than administration. By the end of the period, we anticipate that like-forlikeadministrative expenditure will have declined to around 6% of total expenditure, from 10% just five years ago. Thisachievement is not without challenges, not least of which is the increasing requirement to provide information andsupport for our lead funding department itself. Our thanks are due to the Association of Commonwealth Universities andthe British Council, for their continued economy and efficiency in providing administrative support; to our panel ofacademic advisers, who review hundreds of applications each year without charge; and Commission membersthemselves, who also donate huge amounts of time to the work of the CSC for no remuneration. Thanks, too, to UKuniversities, whose willingness to share tuition costs both allows us to support increased student numbers, and reflectsthe high esteem in which Commonwealth Scholarships are held.This report presents the CSC as an efficient, forward-looking body determined to use public expenditure to the bestpossible effect. But that is not the main story we want to tell. Ultimately, the story of Commonwealth Scholarships is oneof people – thousands of people who are determined to use life-changing training opportunities for the benefit of theirown countries, and at the same time enhance UK development, higher education, and public diplomacy objectives, aswell as the values of the Commonwealth more generally. Some 2,094 individuals benefited from our scholarships andfellowships in the report year, of which 737 were new awards. Whatever the achievements of the CSC over the next fouryears, it will be the achievements of these award holders and alumni of which we remain most proud.Professor Tim UnwinChairDr John KirklandExecutive Secretary5